A divided U.S. appeals court on Tuesday agreed with a California doctor that a settlement proposed by his former employer in a race bias case violated a state law prohibiting contracts that restrain anyone from engaging in a business or profession.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision said the law should be applied broadly so that only “the rare contractual restraint” is deemed insignificant enough to survive. It was the second time that the court reversed a federal judge in Oakland who had ordered Donald Golden to sign a settlement agreement with California Emergency Physicians Medical Group that would bar him from working at any facilities that contract with the group.

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